Clark D. West, MD, a pioneer in pediatric nephrology and a famend clinician who led our division of nephrology for 36 years, died final week on the age of 95.
Dr. West was born July 4, 1918 in Jamestown, New York and selected the profession of drugs on account of his mom’s insistence that he select a profession exterior of the household’s farming roots.
He arrived at Cincinnati Kids’s in 1948 to start a analysis fellowship and formally grew to become a member of the school in 1951. He established the Division of Physiological Chemistry in 1953 – that division was renamed Nephrology in 1973.
The medical profession his mom inspired was stuffed with achievements, together with his participation on the crew that carried out the primary kidney transplant in Ohio, in 1965.
Dr. West retired from his scientific apply in 1989, however he continued his analysis for a few years, publishing his final two papers in 2008. He was 90 years previous on the time.
Fifty years in the past, Dr. West wrote the proposal that gained $2.5 million from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being to launch the Medical Analysis Heart at Cincinnati Kids’s. Just a few years later, he and pediatric chair Edward Pratt, MD, wrote the proposal that gained funding for the second analysis constructing at Cincinnati Kids’s, the Institute for Developmental Analysis (IDR).
Dr. West’s early analysis was on renal physiology, however over time he switched his focus to the brand new subject of immunology as a result of it was changing into obvious that many renal ailments had been of immune origin. He did breakthrough analysis on a variety of kidney ailments however is greatest identified for his work on glomerulonephritis. The profitable remedy that he developed continues to be used at present.
Dr. Clark D. West was a really exceptional man and we all know Cincinnati Kids’s at present stands on the robust basis he did a lot to construct as a doctor, researcher, instructor and chief. He can be significantly missed.